This is an awesome idea. I'm hoping that several 3rd Party Publishing groups jump in and start producing DCC compatible materials. The best way for DCC to succeed is to have some options for potential consumers to choose from!

"The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own." -- Gary Gygax"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!" -- Dave Arneson

I'm quite keen on 3PP work for the DCC setting, but I have no real idea what is involved in the process. I noticed in the opening post refers to publishers. So I guess my first question is: is the 3PP offered only to those with established track record as a publisher?

The label I'll be using is "Cognition Pressworks" but I'm still in the process of setting everything up.

Ever since 2007 when I first got my Aereth box set, I've been working to blend my old homebrew game world with this wondrous resource. The problem though, was that every time I sat down at a game table, no one had ever heard of Aereth... or DCC for that matter. I've had the worst luck in that regard. All the other established game worlds have novels that folks can read and use to build up a mental picture of the world and how it works.

What I really want to do is write novels within the Aereth setting that I've built, but I've reached the point where I really can't go much further without permissions from Goodman Games.

One of the story lines is actually based on the game I'm running in the Beta, starting with DCC#1, and using DCC #14 as the back bone.

The other story is less fleshed out, and isn't based on any modules. Basically it's a Dwarven love story that (if you'll excuse the pun) delves deeply into the history of the the Dwarven peoples of Aereth.

My other offerings at this point:

A spell & monster compendium: I have about 40 pages of data that needs to be organized and could be further expanded.

I also have a module that I wrote when 2.0e was the game of choice and TSR was still king. It is set in the city of Velmaria which is concealed within a pocket dimension. The city of Velmaria is ruled by a society of wizards and for centuries uncounted has existed in a symbiotic peace with the outside world, but some evil wizards are trying to change this by taking Velmaria to war. The players must decipher the secrets of a dangerous tower and then use the info there to avert disaster. It is written for 8-10th level 2e characters.

Well... I'm just a guy. Using a publishing imprint called "Land of Phantoms". So there's no real requirement that you be a "publisher" as it were. If my offerings take-off, I may drift more into a real-deal publisher. But right now, I'm scoped for Transylvanian Adventures, Transylvanian Grimoire and (maybe) a mega-dungeon if either of those things garner enough interest to devote the time.

And initially TA and TG were one book. But the book was going to be so huge I had to split it. And I could also see fairly easily how some people would only want the stuff in TG and not TA. So I figured, nice guy that I am, I'd save some people a decent amount of money. I haven't set the price yet but the strategy is intended to keep the price for each book low.

Oh well. Details.

I'll just say that organizing all this "publishing" stuff is a pain in the ***. I tried getting a more experienced imprint or publisher. And I had a couple that were interested. But, as with the artists, they just kind of stopped returning my calls.

I just want to write this stuff, make some cool art and have a few people have some fun with it. I haven't even decided on pricing yet. And I'm considering highly unconventional approaches. My goal is to get this stuff out there. Which is why I, as a "publisher", will never be like Joseph. If I had a nose for profit/business/etc., I'd be on MTV right now. My default class is "Starving Artist". Not sure I'd know what to eat if the grocery store stopped carrying cans of soup and Ramen noodles...

So, in short, live your dream. You can rest assured you'll do better at it than I have, am or will.

In short, there is a free license available to publish supporting material for DCC RPG. Interested parties should contact me. The folks you'll see posting on this forum (and what you've seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg) have a ll signed that license and decided to take the plunge.

What we're discussing here is publishing, which is different from writing or designing. Publishing is the entire process, both creative and business. Some folks find they really prefer one side or the other; others discover they enjoy all parts.

For those of you who strictly prefer the creative side, you'll be happy to know that in 2012 there will be published submission guidelines for writing DCC RPG adventures. And there will be an adventure design contest. That one will be a lot of fun. But that is all yet to come.

Now, to answer your specific questions...

Tortog wrote:

So I guess my first question is: is the 3PP offered only to those with established track record as a publisher?

The license is free and available to anyone who wants it, whether with a track record or not. There is an approval phase, such that I need to approve the final product before it's released. If you're experienced that approval phase will probably be easier. But as long as your goal is "quality product" you'll probably do okay on the approval phase.

Tortog wrote:

What I really want to do is write novels within the Aereth setting that I've built, but I've reached the point where I really can't go much further without permissions from Goodman Games.

This is the kind of material that could potentially be covered under the free license. I will warn you, though, that novels are not the easiest kind of product to sell to gamers. For all the interest in fantasy literature among gamers, my past experience has been that they buy a lot more games than novels. But everyone's mileage may vary.

Tortog wrote:

A spell & monster compendium: I have about 40 pages of data that needs to be organized and could be further expanded.

This, I think, could potentially be of a lot of interested to DCC RPG fans, and is exactly the kind of 3PP offering I had in mind when I created the free license.

Tortog wrote:

I also have a module that I wrote when 2.0e was the game of choice and TSR was still king. It is set in the city of Velmaria which is concealed within a pocket dimension. The city of Velmaria is ruled by a society of wizards and for centuries uncounted has existed in a symbiotic peace with the outside world, but some evil wizards are trying to change this by taking Velmaria to war. The players must decipher the secrets of a dangerous tower and then use the info there to avert disaster. It is written for 8-10th level 2e characters.

That also sounds like it might be a fun 3PP product. Obviously you should probably update the rules system.

I'm going to take a stab at writing, producing and possibly publishing a zine for DCC in the same vein as Fight On! for S&W, Oubliette for LL, and Encounter for Classic D&D. Of course I'll be coming here for submissions, play-testing, ideas and suggestions. I pretty much plan it to be for fans, by fans and free (or at cost if printed.)

I don't even have a name for it yet and I'm up for joining forces with other fans, amateurs like myself and hopefully some help from the pros. It'd feature new patrons, spells, monsters, magic items, tips, tricks, traps, adventures, etc.

Since it'd be more of a zine, instead of a professional mag. I'm wondering how I'd go about having Goodman Games's blessing.

Shoot me an email or PM with your contact info, and I can provide the 3PP license. It's free and very easy. Basically there's one standard, which is "quality"...you have to produce good stuff. As long as I think it's good stuff, it gets approved.

"The worthy GM never purposely kills players' PCs, He presents opportunities for the rash and unthinking players to do that all on their own." -- Gary Gygax"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!" -- Dave Arneson

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